Art Movements
This week in art news: French cultural groups rallied against Marine Le Pen, Delhi’s Hall of Nations was demolished, and an art dealer left a Lucio Fontana painting in the back of a cab.
Art Movements is a weekly collection of news, developments, and stirrings in the art world.
President Trump is expected to sign a spending bill that would fund the federal government through September 30, 2017. It includes increased funding for the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities (NEA and NEH) and the Smithsonian Institution.
The nominees for the 2017 Turner Prize — the first edition in which artists over 50 were eligible for inclusion — were announced. The four artists are Hurvin Anderson, Andrea Büttner, Lubaina Himid, and Rosalind Nashashibi.
A rally called Culture against the Front National was held at the Philharmonie de Paris in protest against Marine Le Pen’s bid for the presidency of France.
Delhi’s Hall of Nations (1972), designed by architect Raj Rewal, was demolished. The building was denied heritage status after the Heritage Conservation Committee maintained its ruling that only buildings over 60 years old are eligible for conservation.
The De Morgan Collection, a collection of paintings and ceramics by Arts and Crafts couple William and Evelyn De Morgan, was rehoused at Wightwick Manor following a £170,000 ($219,640) project by the UK’s National Trust.
Over 200 employees of B&H Photo Video’s Brooklyn warehouses went on strike on May Day, after accusing the company of union busting.
Australia’s Dark Mofo festival decided to proceed with a planned performance by Hermann Nitsch that involves a bull carcass, despite objections from animal rights campaigners and a petition from Animal Liberation Tasmania.
The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to the estate of Emma Bridge following a dispute over the ownership of seven porcelain figures sold under Nazi persecution in 1937.
The Nordico Museum in Linz has acquired and will display a bronze Aphrodite created by Nazi sculptor Wilhelm Wandschneider. The work was previously on public view in a park for 65 years, until, in 2008, a group of art students pointed out that it had been gifted to the city by Adolf Hitler.
The Venice Biennale’s board of directors appointed the international jury for the show’s 2017 edition.
Over 400 Roman-era columns were abandoned on Beirut’s waterfront after the warehouse in which they were stored was dismantled.
A French art dealer accidentally left an artwork by Lucio Fontana in a taxi after becoming distracted by a phone call.
Military Review magazine published the last photograph taken by US army camerawoman Hilda Clayton, which captures the moment a mortar shell killed her and four Afghan National Army soldiers on July 2, 2013. The magazine also published an image captured by an Afghan soldier whom Specialist Clayton was training. The photographs were released with the permission of Clayton’s family.
The United States Postal Service issued its first-ever stamp that changes when touched. The Total Solar Eclipse Forever stamp commemorates the upcoming August 21 solar eclipse, the first to be visible from the US mainland since 1979.
Russian performance artist Fyodor Pavlov-Andreevich crashed the Met Gala by having himself delivered to the event nude in a fiberglass box.
Transactions
Gwendolyn Weiner, the daughter of art collectors Ted and Lucile Weiner, donated a sculpture by Modigliani to the Kimbell Art Museum.
The Tate Modern’s new extension will be named the Blavatnik Building, following a donation by Ukrainian-born businessman Len Blavatnik. Although the exact size of the donation has not been disclosed, The Art Newspaper reports that it’s over £50 million, which would make it the largest-ever financial donation to a UK museum.
The Dia Art Foundation acquired six paintings by Brice Marden.
The Kenneth C. Griffin Charitable Fund donated $1 million to the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago.
The Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art received a $575,000 grant from the Henry Luce Foundation. The grant will support a collecting initiative that aims to increase the archives’ holdings of African American art.
The Brown Arts Initiative awarded grants totaling $81,400 to 19 faculty, postdoctoral fellows, and professional staff at Brown University.
Anish Kapoor will create a six-meter-tall sculpture for the Museum De Pont, to mark the institution’s 25th anniversary.
The National Portrait Gallery in London acquired a painting of musician Ed Sheeran by Colin Davidson.
Transitions
Barack and Michelle Obama unveiled the first images and conceptual models of the Obama Presidential Center.
Martin Clark was appointed director of the Camden Arts Center.
Rose McHugh was appointed director of the Crawford Art Gallery.
Dan Byers was appointed director of the Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts at Harvard University.
Patrick Charpenel was appointed executive director of El Museo del Barrio.
Stuart A. Chase was appointed executive director of the Monterey Museum of Art.
Lorie Mertes was appointed executive director of Locust Projects.
Laura Copelin was appointed interim director of Ballroom Marfa.
Francesco Manacorda was appointed artistic director of the V-A-C Foundation.
John McInerney was appointed executive director of the University of Pennsylvania’s Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.
Wassan Al-Khudhairi will succeed Jeffrey Uslip as chief curator of the Contemporary Art Museum St. Louis. Uslip left the museum following the backlash against his Kelley Walker exhibition last September.
Hendrik Folkerts was appointed curator of modern and contemporary art at the Art Institute of Chicago. The museum also appointed Jordan Carter and Robyn Farrell as assistant curators of contemporary art.
Max Warsh was appointed associate program director of the New Art Dealers Alliance (NADA) [via email announcement].
Alexander Kader and Margaret Schwartz were appointed co-worldwide heads of European sculpture and works of art at Sotheby’s.
Actor and comedian Cheech Marin announced plans to open an art center dedicated to Chicano art.
New York’s National Academy School decided to suspend classes beginning in August until the institution finds a new home.
American Medium announced that it will relocate from the Bed-Stuy neighborhood of Brooklyn to 515 West 20th Street in Manhattan in September.
Peter Zumthor unveiled his designs for the Fondation Beyeler’s extension.
The artist-run Secret Project Robot reopened at a new space in Bushwick, Brooklyn.
The Robert Mapplethorpe estate is now represented by Gladstone Gallery.
Accolades
Cornelia Parker was appointed the official artist for the UK’s 2017 general election — the first woman appointed to the role.
Tomislav Nikolic received the 2017 Bulgari Art Award.
Art League Houston gave its artist of the year and arts patron of the year awards to Trenton Doyle Hancock and Lynn Goode, respectively.
A Blade of Grass announced its 2017 Fellows for Socially Engaged Art.
The Nasher Sculpture Center awarded its 2017 microgrants to Chesley Antoinette, Eileen Maxson, Marcela Reyes , Giovanni Valderas, and Montoya Williams.
Obituaries
Vito Acconci (1940–2017), artist and experimental architect.
Leo Baxendale (1930–2017), cartoonist, creator of multiple characters in the Beano.
Dick Contino (1930–2017), accordion player.
Laure de Beauvau-Craon (1943–2017), head of Sotheby’s France between 1991–2004.
Hubert L. Dreyfus (1929–2017), philosopher, author of What Computers Can’t Do (1972).
Bruce Hampton (1947–2017), guitarist.
Norman T. Hatch (1921–2017), Marine cinematographer.
William M. Hoffman (1939–2017), playwright, best known for As Is (1985).
Erkki Kurenniemi (1941–2017), electronic music pioneer.
Martha Lavey (1957–2017), artistic director of Chicago’s Steppenwolf Theater between 1995–2015.
June LeBell (1944–2017), soprano and pioneering radio announcer.
Diane H. Lewis (1951–2017), architect and professor at Cooper Union’s Irwin S. Chanin School of Architecture.
A.R. Penck (1939–2017), painter.
Ann Sneed (1929–2017), founder of International Art of Jazz.
Jean Stein (1934–2017), writer and editor, best known for Edie: American Girl (1982), a chronicle of Edie Sedgwick’s life.
Jordan Vaughn (aka “Tead”) (1982–2017), graffiti artist.
Burton Watson (1925–2017), translator of classical Japanese and Chinese literature.
